Book Reviews

2019-20

Titles and reviews

THE BRIDGE IN THE MOONLIT NIGHT AND OTHER STORIES - Manoj Das - Book Review

The lock-down led many of us to search for good reading material available online. And though, reading and writing are the two rocky mounds I would compulsively go to when I wish to stare into the stars, or book a date with my thoughts, and with many a ‘to be read’ books already in stock (courtesy my father), I still decided to wash my hands in the flowing stream of these free reads and hopped on the bandwagon. (blame it to the word ‘free’ and the associated psychology!)


NBT (National Book Trust) along with many other sites are offering good reading material to be downloaded on their sites free of cost specially for this period - The material that definitely wasn’t on my reading list, but judging the book by its cover(rather title), I decided to indulge.
I didn’t regret.

‘The Bridge in the moonlit night…’ by Manoj Das is a collection of short stories that would easily find resonance with any native Asian. It is set in the era of diminishing British rule in India and consequently the royal culture of Raja-s and Rajmata-s; Gods, Goddesses and their innumerable demi-forms and awkward superstitions, had ruled this transitioning spell of the ever-changing face of the country – from enslavement to independence.

But the lingering Raj-dom didn’t touch the lower cadre of its overwhelmed servants for a pretty long time it seems, who stuck to their loyalty towards their masters like the old rocky remains of royal palaces, refusing to break down even in doom, to remain a symbol of the extravaganza of the ancient rulers, to be awed and revered later by generations to come.

One such narrative in the book is 'The Naked’, a short story of an Ex- army commando, Bhanu Singh and his turmoil within emerging out of the embarrassing order of the Rajmata that he feels obliged to obey. In a rather witty turn of events he finds empathy, submission and relief – all within a short range of time.

The star of this country collection remains the title story – ‘The Bridge in the moonlit night’. How gullible are we in our endeavors with love not reciprocated; we are convinced that love has finally left its precious abode of a human heart and would only linger in the memory of a beautiful past.

We often dismiss it as a soft emotion for the harder truths of life – by burying our minds in the rush and din of our vocations. This story transcends the meaning of love beyond its face value and makes even the most philosophically forward-looking, now forgetful old man into his 80s, Ashok Bhai, go soul-searching for the remains of a part of his life that had somehow dearly remained locked in his memory forever.

Shodh – Taslima Nasrin

It presents an account of a traditional Muslim Bengali woman called Jhumur who survives through an emotional ordeal of subjugating her choices to the whims and dominion of her husband and in—laws. She finds herself of the stature of no more than the maid of the house only that she is married to the eldest son of the family who has blanketed the responsibilities of his parasitic relationships with his siblings and his mother. 

Eventually her subdued desires to deserve an authentic, undiluted love from her husband and to become financially independent, are mushroomed into a vile revenge – she decides to keep her illegitimate child and give him her husband’s name and legacy. 

The story effortlessly portrays the strength of a woman in spite of all her vulnerabilities that lies in the fact that she can architect her own ways of leveling out with people around her – which can be manipulative, vengeful and bold.